Vans has invited public and private high school art students to participate in the 10th year of Vans Custom Culture. Vans Custom Culture was created to provide high school students a platform to showcase their creative abilities, while providing access to underfunded art programs.

This year marks a decade of Vans’ continued dedication to giving back to the arts through its competition where students have a chance to win a grand prize of $75,000 and $10,000 to four runner-up schools.

“Vans Custom Culture is a shining example of how we bring our brand’s purpose of enabling creative expression to life,” said Kristy Van Doren, senior director of brand marketing in North America. “The competition has inspired more than 12,000 high schools and Vans has donated more than a million dollars to support art education to fuel creativity across the country. We’ve reached a huge milestone of 10 years and are proud of what’s to come.”

Through January 31 at 5 p.m. PST, high school art teachers and administrators can register their schools on the Vans Custom Culture website to be one of the 500 schools vying to win the grand prize. Vans has partnered with Yoobi, who will provide a box of basic art supplies to help students bring their artwork to life. The selected schools will be asked to design 2 blank pairs of shoes illustrating the themes of: “Local Flavor” and “Off The Wall.”

In addition to their shoes, schools will also submit their Impact Document to help Vans determine the top 50 participants. Then it’s up to each school to rally the public to vote on April 22 – May 3 to be one of the top five finalists. The grand prize-winning school will receive a surprise visit from Vans and its partners, Americans for the Arts and Journeys, for a lunch time celebration, filled with giveaways and a presentation of the $75,000 check. The four runner-up schools will each be awarded with $10,000 and a limited-edition Vans gift.

“Vans Custom Culture is creative expression,” said Mitch Whitaker, GN of Vans North America. “We are committed to inspiring our youth community to not only express themselves through art but to showcase that there is no limit to where their creativity can take them.”